Monday, October 3, 2011

Weekend Report: Yoga at the Swedish Embassy and a Turkish Festival

I find myself on many DC email lists. My overcrowded inbox can be annoying, but it's totally worth it when I get invited to things like yoga on the rood of the Swedish Embassy in Georgetown! I've been up there once before, and the opportunity to do yoga with such a great view was too good to pass up. 




Alas, the weather conspired against me and a cold drizzle forced the yoga inside (the above picture is from the last time I was there). Oh well, it was still pretty cool to do my -assanas surrounded by famous Swedish art. I'm normally a Bikram girl, and this weekend confirmed it...I don't love Bikram yoga, but I love regular yoga even less. Downward dog is the bane of my existence (and, more specifically,  the torment of my tight hamstrings).



After the class, LOTR-Emily and I meandered about the building to check out what Sweden had to offer - some pretty cool textiles! And thanks to LOTR-Emily, I know two words in Swedish: tak (thank you), and fika (coffee break). Any culture that has a word for 'coffee break' is one I want to be associated with!






Saturday afternoon was still cold and drizzly - aka perfect movie-watching weather! We watched The Two Towers extended version chez LOTR-Emily (fitting, no?), in honor of LOTR season. The movie accompanied by amazing raspberry cupcakes (I'll post about them tomorrow), and some fantastic apricot almond oatmeal bread made by LLC.




Sunday morning my house hosted a brunch party. I manned the stove, flipping piping hot pumpkin pancakes like the October-loving breakfast afficianado that I am. My roommates contributed broccoli quiche, blueberry muffins, and super-dark coffee to round out the meal. It was delicious.


Then I met up with SpeedyKate to check out a Turkish Festival in downtown DC. We watched a few rounds of beautifully-costumed dancers, the first group were Turkish, and the second were Azerbaijani (if I remember correctly). 




FunFact: Do you know the difference between Turkish and Turkic? Turkish means you're actually from Turkey or speak Turkish, and Turkic is a  family of languages and related cultures spread throughout Central and West Asia. 



We finished off the festival with some delicious baklava - Middle Eastern/Mediterranean food is so good


Then Sunday evening I went for a very chilly but pleasant run - look at me go! Making my comeback! :)